Book Types and How they Affect Me

Books and Elves

I have learned lots from books during this period of time we call life, specifically textbooks, storybooks, and comic books.

Textbooks are the most boring books to learn from, being dry, technical, and usually about uninteresting topics (not to mention they’re usually forced upon me due to school). Their function is to explain the secrets of the universe, for example, how to predict how events will turn out based on the vast knowledge of science and physics (aka boring crap).

Stories, on the other hand, are much more interesting to me. If I want the real world, I’ll walk outside and throw a rock at somebody. If I want something a bit less predictable with more possibilities, I’ll crack open a fiction book, preferably some sort of fantasy novel. It is from reading such fantasy novels that I often develop ideas for characters of my own. They may be similar to a character in the story but then evolve into a life of their own that is vastly different from that original idea. (Eragon is the reason I’m obsessed with elves and drawing people with large ears subconsciously…)

Comic books are where I gain both art and story inspiration. I enjoy studying the linework, composition, character expressions, and coloring jobs from the art. Overall, I enjoy studying the way the text works with the images in such a unique way. This medium is truly special.

I will always keep on reading books to expand my horizons, gain enlightenment, imagine, and laugh my butt off at funny stuff.

How Eragon Affected Me (Oh, it did...)


For me, the best product of reading Eragon has to be my character Alfadecorus Dauntn'aryu, who "evolved" from Arya. Interestingly, when I first started reading Eragon and this character was mentioned, I sort of pictured her as Super Smash Bros. Melee-looking Zelda mixed with a little Starfire (from the cartoon Teen Titans).

One day during the summer of 2011 I got bored at my job and drew a sketch of a character based on how I pictured Arya. After playing with the design a bit, I got Alfa's basic design. In the beginning, she looked a bit more humble, respectable, and overall more womanly, I think.

Eventually, Alfa gained her own personality and became a bit more mischevious and fun than Arya but retained her sense of logic and seriousness. Her clothes changed a little bit (I added pants and converse-style choes) and her nose/ears got longer...though this was subconscious.

Summer 2011 Design

Heck, I even drew Alfa (spoiler alert) slaying Shruikan, the evil dragon from Eragon

By Spring 2013 the Design was pretty much finalized; hopefully she portrays the mix of fun, seriousness, and slight mystery I intend her to:

 

 Though sometimes I get carried away with the character.

  

OKAY NOW I'M DONE

Music, TV, and Movies..HI, SEX

Music, TV, AND movies??! So broad! I could go on for pages about any of these things! The only way to squeeze it into one blog-post-sized-post is to talk about all of them as a whole.

So allow me to rail.

Describing an aspect of the media in a word...oversexualized. All of it. Especially TV. As a culture we are totally desensitized to sex. Not only are television shows saturated with it, but commercials are as well. This is not to say that sex is inherently bad- I don't think it is. However, it is constantly shown in the incorrect contexts or used in coarse joking, which I frankly can't stand.

In relation to marriage, I personally want sex to be a surprise (this doesn't mean I can't be educated appropriately beforehand, but come on!). With people singing about it and acting it out all of the time everywhere, where's the mystery or discovery of the other gender? Before you even get married, it's "seen that."

The media tells us how relationships should be and people unfortunately listen. Sometimes we get our priorities out of whack. Sex isn't number one guys.

Additionally, being a female, I will have to compete with all of the women in film or television who show themselves off, while I want to save my body (and dignity) for marriage. I am sometimes afraid that if I ever got married to someone my husband would expect high or unrealistic standards for our sex life because of exposure they've had through media. (I'm not completely blaming anyone- it's incredibly hard to not be exposed- nowadays you'd practically have to live under a rock).

Fortunately, my reality is saturated with Christians (sometimes I feel they are too sheltered, but hey, that doesn't really hurt me) who fight the good fight and do a darn good job of it. They take in information then put it out of their heads, or they avoid the information. They know their limits. Kudos to you!